Take 5 
How ‘Thinking Like a Farmer’ Can Help Your Real Estate Business Thrive
with Sean Carpenter
TRT 3:30
Transcribed


Sean Carpenter directly addresses camera:  Given the choice, most real estate professionals will choose business support activities rather than business development activities. Why? Because it’s a lot easier to make a flier for an open house or search the MLS than it is to pick up the phone or get face to face with someone. There’s no risk of rejection. But if you spend all of your time doing business support activities instead of business development activities, there soon will be no business to support. 

I’m Sean Carpenter, CEO and founder of Sean Speaks and retired director of agent development for the Ohio NRT Companies. Let’s take five minutes to talk about a simple prospecting plan I call “The 4 H Club.” Doing these simple business development activities every day will keep your pipeline full, even during slow times.

I compare it to a farmer putting seeds in the ground. A person doesn’t wake up one day and say, “I want to be a farmer,” and suddenly have a crop tomorrow. They have to work the land, put seeds in the ground, fertilize and water, tend and weed and, over time, if they do all those things every day, they yield a crop. It’s the same for sales. 

It’s time for you to join the 4H Club. Do this every morning and you’ll see huge payoffs.

The first H is handwritten notes. The first thing you should do every morning is open up your database and write five handwritten notes—every day. I start with thank you notes because these are the easiest notes to write—you already know what you’re going to say. If there is no one else to thank, I go down my list and send a greeting card or handwritten note that asks how things are going or include a personalized message. Think about it, at the end of the day, you get your mail and there are five things in the mailbox and one of them is a handwritten note. Which do you read first?

The second H is a Hot Sheet. Most real estate agents around the country have access in their MLS to what’s called a “hot sheet.” It’s the daily update of what’s happening in your town. Go through the towns in your farm area, look at the new listings that hit the market, check out price changes, what’s gone into contract. Use this to educate yourself on your local market and farm area—street names, price points and high activity areas. It helps you keep your finger on the pulse of the market. Then, use this information to let people in your database know, for example, that there’s a new listing in their neighborhood where they live, or that a listing down the street has dropped in price. You’re trying to show them that you’re the neighborhood expert and when they think of real estate, they should think of you.

The third H is Happy Birthdays. Once you’ve gotten your handwritten notes and hot sheet done, open up Facebook and see who has a birthday that day. Most people would go on to post a note to them on Facebook, or they don’t do anything. By the time the person checks their Facebook page, it’s a sea of just “Happy Birthdays” but no one really stands out. So, consider texting them a video saying happy birthday or something unique just to stand out from the crowd. I’ll turn the camera on myself and say, “Hey, It’s Sean Carpenter from Columbus, Ohio. Just wanted to say Happy Birthday. Hope you have a great day, a fun week and an amazing year ahead. I look forward to connecting again sometime soon but until then, keep building relationships, solving problems and having fun.” It’s amazing how quickly you get a response to those. 

Finally, the last H is High Fives. Because you’re already in Facebook, make sure to do five social media touches that you can take care of quickly. So, comment on five different posts or status updates, scroll through your newsfeed and like five things. Then, jump over to Twitter and Instagram and do the same thing five comments or five likes. Finally, send five random text messages to people in your phone, such as a funny GIF or a comment like, “Have an awesome day!”

Once you’re done, its time to reward yourself. My reward is that I walk over to Starbucks and get my morning coffee. Then, feel good that you touched 40 to 50 people…sometimes before 9:30 AM. 

Remember, it’s all about establishing a routine and if you can do that daily, you’ll be well on your way to building relationships, solving problems and having fun.